


Mentors

by waterbird13



Series: Tumblr Fics [421]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Agender Peter Parker, First Meeting, Gen, Mentorship, Trans Man Matt Murdock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 17:03:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10858305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waterbird13/pseuds/waterbird13
Summary: The devil of Hell's Kitchen goes searching for the Spider-kid.





	Mentors

The Spider-man-kid is an awfully local hero for someone who hangs around the Avengers so much.

He’s also the only one of that lot who still insists on secret identities. Matt wonders if the Avengers know who the kid is–Matt’s heard the kid talk, he’s absolutely sure kid is the right descriptor–or if the kid’s keeping it a secret from everyone.

As one masked superhero to another, Matt can relate. It’s as shocking to him as anyone else, but in actuality, superheroes with secret identities are actually in rather short supply.

Matt tries to stick to Hell’s Kitchen, feels a visceral need to protect his home, and Spider-man is all over the freaking city. Still, Matt knows it’s only so long before they have a run-in.

“Bad night?” He asks, and the kid jumps a half mile into the air when he does.

“Jesus Christ!” Matt winces at the blasphemy, then at how squeaky the voice is. “Do you get off on scaring people half to death?”

Matt grins. “Makes life more fun.”

The kid sighs. “Any chance I could get you to forget you ever saw me?”

And oh, Matt should have realized sooner. The voice isn’t muffled. The mask is off. The kid was probably hiding up here to get away from it all for a few minutes, and here Matt is, inadvertently threatening his secret identity.

“Shouldn’t take your mask off in public,” Matt says levelly. “Whole town is full of people like us.” Still, he exposed the kid’s secret, so it’s only fair for there to be some return paired with reassurance. “If it helps. Your mask makes no difference on my ability to recognize you. I’d’ve been able to pick you out of a crowd the first time I heard your voice.”

“Oh,” the kid says dully. Then. “Oh! That’s, uh. Impressive.”

“Which means I know you’re pretty young, under that suit.”

“I can lift a bus.”

“Still a minor.”

The kid huffs.

“So,” Matt says, sitting on the ledge next to the kid, keeping a keen ear out. “Spider-man, huh? Do you really…dress up like a spider?”

The kid huffs again. “I hate that stupid name. Spider-man. Like, you know why I picked this costume? Well. My powers are kind of…spider-like. But also. Spiders are not things easily assigned human genders. You can’t tell just by looking at them. The identity, the gimmick, the suit. It’s supposed to be genderless. And what does the world do? Slap the word man on it.”

Matt smiles. “Yeah. They like doing that.” He thinks back to being a kid, a little Catholic orphan everyone was so ready to slap a label onto. “Spider-person doesn’t have the type of ring that sells papers.”

“Neither did ‘the devil of Hell’s Kitchen,’” the kid says. “Mouthful.”

“They clearly figured that one out,” Matt says. “Look. If…the Spider…is looking for legal representation for a libel suit? I know some guys who’ve handled stuff with me before.”

“The Spider,” the kid muses. “Like that one. So what’s your story, Daredevil?”

Matt smiles. “Sorry,” he says. “But unlike you, my mask stays on. I don’t go showing my face on the first meeting.”

“So there’ll be more meetings?”

“I think by now all of Manhattan knows where to look for me,” Matt says. “You ever in Hell’s Kitchen, I’ll find you. See you around, Spider,” he says.

He climbs over to the next roof, ready to get back to patrolling his neighborhood. He hears the whoosh of the kid swinging by him on his spider web things that people have earnestly tried to describe to Matt during daylight hours. He can’t help but smile, wondering when he’s going to see the kid again.


End file.
